So you want to work in ... Television

Working in television still holds huge appeal as a glamorous career, in spite of long hours, hard work and tough competition for jobs. Television post-production polishes programmes before they are broadcast and requires creative people with a good grasp of how the technology works.

To succeed you need bags of energy, drive, perseverance, as well as the ability to get on with anyone and turn your hand to every aspect of television production. Don't expect to have a permanent job in television but a challenging career that will constantly change. TV production companies are inundated with people looking for work experience and work. How can you make yourself stand out?

An employer says

We look for people who are prepared to start by making tea before they move up. A lot of graduates expect to come in as junior editors but it doesn't work like that - you need to learn from other people and work your way up.

The managing director of Flix started as a runner at 16. I started my TV career in the machine room as a graduate and didn't know anything about it when I started, but you learn from people as you go along.

Graduates learn a lot, but not the technical side of things. It would be good to have graduates who are prepared for post-production but universities tend not to allow students to get on the equipment because it's expensive. If you have digitising skills then you would get on quicker as it's a key skill that people want to see. It's a good idea to get as much work experience as you possibly can.

It's still worth going to university though as it gives you a better cultural background and helps you to grow as a person. It's not just about your career.

It's also worth sending companies speculative CVs. Persevere.

Spelling and grammar are very important. We get so many CVs sent in and you wouldn't believe how many had misspelled words in them. That's one thing that really puts me off. It shows that you haven't double-checked everything, which we like our technical operators to do.

A teacher says

To do well in this profession you have to have a huge passion for it because it's quite a difficult job. Don't expect it to be easy, fun and full of parties.

The way people get hired has changed over the last 10 years. No one has a steady job any more. It's pretty much all freelance. You have to be pretty fantastic at what you do, have the personal skills to match and be multiskilled these days. Employers don't just want someone who can edit but write the script, do camera work or special effects as well.

You often hear that people coming through university can't keep up with the fast-paced changes happening in TV, such as the BBC going "tapeless" by 2010 and the change from digital to high definition, which will impact on the technologies we use.

We offer industry-spec training in film and TV, music, digital arts and games and try to give students ideas and technical skills for a career that's ever-changing and that will need constantly updating. We also try to teach them to do less-desirable corporate work until they bring to fruition their difficult dream of working in the film industry.

There aren't people there to pass on their skills and mentor people any more - what makes you special is knowing a little bit more information than the next person, which can make it quite a selfish profession.

A graduate says

I'm working in post-production at Sumners, which is the biggest post-production facility outside London with clients including Mastermind, Dragon's Den and Songs of Praise.

My role is varied and involves a mixture of client hospitality and helping the day-to-day running of the facility, as well as more technical post-production work such as digitising tapes and transferring DVD.

I graduated with a degree in film and cultural studies from Lancaster University and then secured a month's work experience at the BBC before getting my job at Sumners six months ago.

You definitely need an understanding of TV production to be any good at the job and I would highly recommend doing work experience. I also did a two-year Avid industry-standard editing programme at Futureworks, which was a lot more relevant than my degree.

Post-production involves mixing and dubbing and voice-over work. It's very hard work without a doubt.

I do very long hours, including night shifts. Programmes have an allotted time when they need to go out so if something needs to be done you have just got to do it.

You have to be dedicated, organised, outgoing and friendly as it's quite client-facing.